Denmark: government prioritises climate policy
Denmark's Social Democratic election winner Mette Frederiksen has secured the support of the Socialist People's Party SF, the Red-Green Alliance and the left-liberal Danish Social Liberal Party to form a minority government focusing on the climate and welfare. The plan: to lower emissions by 70 percent by 2030. But not all the press reactions to the new government are positive.
Spearheading the fight against climate change
El País praises the climate policy as courageous and pioneering:
“The government deal opens up the way for other countries to join the front ranks of the fight against climate change. In this sense the Danish agreement is without doubt a model for realistic economic and at the same time responsible environmental policy. As the document explains, stopping the rise in temperatures is 'the most responsible decision also from an economic point of view'. ... The solidness of the new Danish government is based not so much on its high number of seats in parliament but on the clarity of the terms of the agreement, on the broadness of the involved political spectrum and on the ambitiousness of its objectives, which go beyond the country's borders and aim to bring other EU member states towards the same green model.”
Will prosperity and stability be squandered?
Berlingske concludes that the agreement represents above all leftist positions that lack secure financing:
“For the agreement to become reality [Mette Fredriksen] will have to square the circle in economic policy. ... The new prime minister will need a lot of luck if she is to succeed. It looks like an economic policy that will hamper growth and prosperity rather than promote them in practice. And that is alarming. ... Denmark is being taken in a whole new direction. At a time when the policy applied so far has created historic levels of prosperity, employment and stability, this is not necessarily good news.”
Disappointing from a feminist perspective
Seven out of 20 ministers in Copenhagen's new government are women. That's far too few, Der Nordschleswiger laments:
“Why not fill 11 of the 20 ministerial posts with women? That would have sent a message - and met the expectations many had of a Social Democratic head of government. At least that's what the first reactions - among others from Pia Olsen Dyhr, leader of the Socialist People's Party SF, who helped Mette Frederiksen gain power - have made clear. Mette Frederiksen has made herself vulnerable from day one - at least on this point, which doesn't seem to be all that important to her. The fact is, however, that it is important for more than half of the population.”